Wilkie Wages War: May 2007
Wilkie Wages War: May 2007
Environmental Health Network leader Barbara Wilkie discovered in July 2005 that her chemical injury/multiple chemical sensitivities had suddenly manifested as stage 4 (later stage 5) kidney disease (kidney failure). Despite dire warnings of death within a year, she eschewed dialysis and Western Medicine drugs and took a route of alternative medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and strict dietary changes. She lived well for six years, far beyond the doctors’ predictions. Barb died at home, surrounded by friends and family, on May 31, 2011.
During this time, Barb documented her journey. From diagnosis through June 2008, she created one huge website page packed with details, plus some side documents on diet and other topics. We have divided these works into smaller pieces, by date or topic, to make it easier to read and find things. For dates after June 2008, we have letters, online posts, and other documents.
Barb intended her work to be read and used. We hope this presentation will help you do just that.
Wilkie Wages War on Kidney Disease
(aka Renal Disease or Failure)
OR, AS I SEE IT: Life with yet another facet of living with MCS.
I want to live life while dying.
May 2007
Well, the two days preceding this blood test were hot. Now I know “hot” is relative, for I grew up on the southside of St. Louis. But, the temps here were in the 80s and 90s and that was hot enough to again outgas the horrendous deodorizer chemicals that had been put in our car — as a gratuity and without our knowledge — by our mechanics the previous month. The toxins continued to outgas in the heat, despite three separate days of ozone generating that the mechanics did in a supreme, but seemingly futile effort to eradicate those neurotoxins and other noxious chemicals. Could those volatilizing chemicals have played a role in these numbers? Time may tell.
High or Low | Blood checked for | Reading is: | What should be: |
H | BUN | 52 . . .Up, and much too high to please me. I can’t say I did anything in particular that was stupid enough to earn this increase. BUN increases as kidney function decreases.) | 10 – 20 mg/dL |
H | Magnesium | 2.6 . . . Up a tenth of a point again. As I understand it, too much magnesium can adversely affect heart just as can too much potassium. | 1.7 -2.3 mg/dL |
Calcium | 9.0 . . . Normal, and it has increased a little. This is good. | 8.5 – 10.3 mg/dL | |
L | CO2 | 17. . . . Down another two points, but I haven’t a clue as to why. Doctors don’t seem to care about this number reading low. | 24 – 33 mEq/L |
H | Creatinine | 5.56. . . Down a tad . . . want to see it back in the 4 readings and then I’d like to see it drop below that. How’s that for just a wishin’? | <1.2 mg/dL |
H | Phosphorus | 4.9 . . . High but this month, it is the same as last month. At least it didn’t climb. | 2.7 – 4.5 mg/dL |
N | Potassium | 4.9 . . . Normal. Yeah!!!! | 3.5 – 5.3 mEq/L |
L | Sodium | 131 . . . Up a little, but still low. | 133 – 145 mEq/L |
L | GFR * | 8 or 10 . . . still have muscle mass so I’ll take the 10. Same as last month. The larger number is assigned to African-American women, as they are seen as having more muscle mass than caucasians. You can see how “painting with a broad brush” can cause errors. White women aren’t supposed to have muscle mass? Ridiculous! My ethnic origins were quite muscular. | >59 mL/min |
L | Hemoglobin | 8.3 . . . Down four-tenths of a point from last month. Apparently, 8 is the magic number I’m supposed to remain above and with the help of Floradix, I’m sure trying to stay up around 9 . . . while hoping for higher readings! | 11.5 – 15 g/dL |
L | Hematocrit | 25.8 . . . This time down 1.1 points. Damn! | 34 – 46 % |
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